Commercial spot prawn reg changes

Sea lyin’

Sea lyin’

Well-Known Member
Quite the stink being raised about the changes to how commercial prawn fishers can transport their catch. Anybody else catch this on the news? I get what their saying but am more interested in following the story to see if they can get the regs changed and how quickly they can do it.
 

Commercial Prawn Opening.

I was wondering if anybody has heard if DFO is going to delay the commercial opening for prawns like they did last year? It was great for us last year, we saw great fishing right through mid June and the size was even better. Just was wondering if anybody has heard anything.
www.sportfishingbc.com
 
Sea lyin’ said:
Quite the stink being raised about the changes to how commercial prawn fishers can transport their catch. Anybody else catch this on the news? I get what their saying but am more interested in following the story to see if they can get the regs changed and how quickly they can do it.
Click to expand...
Not much different than a sporty catching a Crab. Must take whole crab home. How do you measure a prawn that has no head? Our local chefs can use iced fresh prawn they don't need to be frozen.
 
Ya, I kinda suspect there is another back story going on here. Seems to me that DFO requires some method to verify the catch meets the size limits in the regs, and if the catch is frozen how do you accomplish that unless the captain is willing to thaw out a random sample to check. If the Captain puts up a stink due to concerns over spoilage, then we are at a Mexican stand off....or something like that scenario. Thus the reason I would like to hear the other side of the story here....we are only being presented with one side of the evidence. Guess I'm saying the commercial prawn association guys have a vested interest in telling the story from one perspective, I want to hear the other side before reaching any conclusions.
 
searun said:
Ya, I kinda suspect there is another back story going on here. Seems to me that DFO requires some method to verify the catch meets the size limits in the regs, and if the catch is frozen how do you accomplish that unless the captain is willing to thaw out a random sample to check. If the Captain puts up a stink due to concerns over spoilage, then we are at a Mexican stand off....or something like that scenario. Thus the reason I would like to hear the other side of the story here....we are only being presented with one side of the evidence. Guess I'm saying the commercial prawn association guys have a vested interest in telling the story from one perspective, I want to hear the other side before reaching any conclusions.
Click to expand...
 
Well given they reduced limits to Public Fishers by 37%,maybe it’s not as sustainable as we were led to believe. First us and now more checks on the Commercial guys to ensure their catch is all legal. I’ve always wondered how DFO knew how much Commercial harvest was happening. Seems you can just sell right off your boat so there is no accounting for what actually landed. Maybe they have some other means, other than guessing when Prawns in an area are getting sparse by a test fishery? We all know how little resources DFO claims to have, so not sure if this is working? Tough for the Commercial fishers who are pretty much already on the ropes.
 
ziggy said:
Well given they reduced limits to Public Fishers by 37%,maybe it’s not as sustainable as we were led to believe. First us and now more checks on the Commercial guys to ensure their catch is all legal. I’ve always wondered how DFO knew how much Commercial harvest was happening. Seems you can just sell right off your boat so there is no accounting for what actually landed. Maybe they have some other means, other than guessing when Prawns in an area are getting sparse by a test fishery? We all know how little resources DFO claims to have, so not sure if this is working? Tough for the Commercial fishers who are pretty much already on the ropes.
Click to expand...

Nope. The sports reduction had more to do with something else, and was political. It was not about conservation. This seems to be something much larger.
 
SpringVelocity said:
Nope. The sports reduction had more to do with something else, and was political. It was not about conservation. This seems to be something much larger.
Click to expand...
What in the name of Transparency and openness would that ”something else be”? Seems to me the cutting harvest by 37% is about leaving more Prawns in the water is it not?
 
ziggy said:
What in the name of Transparency and openness would that ”something else be”? Seems to me the cutting harvest by 37% is about leaving more Prawns in the water is it not?
Click to expand...

More to do with a user group complaining up island bringing it up. This topic was openly discussed at all of our SFAC meetings last year. The daily limit decrease had nothing to do with stock assessment. The daily limit reduction was a political move.

This one with frozen tubs seems business driven if you ask me.
 
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SpringVelocity said:
More to do with a user group complaining up island bringing it up. This topic was openly discussed at all of our SFAC meetings last year. The daily limit decrease had nothing to do with stock assessment. The daily limit reduction was a political move.

This one with frozen tubs seems business driven if you ask me.
Click to expand...
I have heard from a very good source, that last year there was a crackdown on people selling frozen tubs from their homes. I also know a guy who fished on the Island and transported live Prawns to sell on the Richmond dock, where he lives, something he’s done for many years. Last year though there was a great deal of angst from local sellers and I believe he was forced out. Certainly something going on both internally and externally.
 
Hardy Guy said:
Sport prawn limit reduction was a FN request. Same as the 17 Central Coast Crab closures.
Click to expand...
Interesting I remember the report about a meeting and as I understood it, it was attended by Commercial and First Nations reps. I don’t remember it Rec fishers were even reported as being present. Might be my memory or maybe just an incomplete report.
It would be nice to go back and read the minutes of the meeting if this was when it was proposed. I continue to have concerns about how many meetings have no written records available to the public. I always remember the old saying where I worked “No Agenda, no Minutes, no meeting. Sure makes for more transparency.
 
agentaqua said:
Actually this is a DFO thing - not a FN thing. DFO claims that there is a large black market for prawns.
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That does kind of line up with some of the measures we are seeing.
 
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